New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-10-28
NEW PUBLICATIONS
SOME AMERICAN FICTION.

"Fools of Nature" Is novel occupying good
deal Of the grouad covered by Mr.. Howelis ID MS
Undiscovered Country benevolent anu
smple-minded old farmer who believes III spuitu"i-
ism; an adopted boy who is supposed 10 nave
,pe6inmistie gifts; an area impostor who under
takes to develop the boy. ana eApio''0
him forthwith as professional meu'u'n
are the most important people III The
story though the au hor may not have so meant IL.
There are indeed two or more distinct threads oi
narrative and ali Of them appear lnteaue' u Illus
trate morbid mental conditions. There Is kiii
who refuses to live with her husband because MS
divorced wife is still alive There IS an a'op'o'
brother OF this girl who is so seconseious anu So"
sitlve as TO he quite intolerabe, unIIl Drain io'0
comes to correct and restore his balance i"'io ~
q nrettv a,n who seems inc pable of speaking the
truth and lives in cloud of her own notions. Al
most every one is warped III some way, ana inc
AID fornor Irncle Rem with his daughter Maria,
arc really about the only whoiesome-mlnded ioiKs
in the story. Len, the mediumlstic bov. Is de-
scr,bed IA ineorruptlbly honest, but so simple tha'
his rascally trainer caioes him into deceiVhg HIS
visitors Having believed III his own SuperhaVha
gifts Len is staggered when the o'essor eNp"oS
the fraud that in his confusion he goes ana uro"hs
himself The young woman who lett her huso'h"
because of her theory of divorce is hnahy fe'e"seo
and returus home 1t is not altogether pleasant
,kill of composition and combination Win nan
Che nsvchcal problems here 80 profusey offered
soore ,terestiog and natural story could have Deen
sod. An admixture of thoroughly sane people -
generally thought desirable even III the most NOR
bid studies and it is lacking here.
Mr., Laura Fessenden has endeavOred, IN "A
Puritan Lover" to recall a time. any REPRODUCTION
of which requires such saturation OF tho nihn
with the history of the period as IhicheraN
achieved in relation TO the time OF Queen anne
But Mrs Fessenden has not prepared herseh III
this conscientious way, and as result he! soiN u
not IN any true study ana her pictures VI
Puritan life and thought bear but the most distant
and misty resemblance 10 reality Theprescnt tale
is in Tact rat her an old-fashioned romance tnah
modern novel A dark mystery is caused III Pufi-
tan village by the appearance OF peautiIui iof-
eicn Girl AZ a guest in the household of Abner JOIN
or the urlnepal man in the hamlet. and gossip and
scandal fornidably assisted by the mailce Oh
laborer Of JoueI's, who is III love win fhi'h' MS
eldest daughter leads to much misconstruc'i"h
and Ill blood and Injustice. Ii seems that onei
b,,ween two Young mobiles had been fought i'll Eng
land and that the Survivor had He'd the country
and sought c0ncealment in the American Coonies'
bringing his young wife with HIM She Is TIE inys-
FERROUS stranger and when the complications have
all been cleared up and two or three superhious
.iarac tcrs have been removed by death the way Is
omen tor the union of Faith with her suspicious and
NOT very Ioysl lover. Penuel Morton. The story Is
full of anachronlsms and its art is feeble. Its de-
feels are apparently due moro to clreiessness than
20 want of ability but If this is the case 1t involves
rather a severe Judgment on the author
The character studies ny Esther BeraOn Carpen-
fer which have been gathered together under the
title South County Neighbours, constitute
valuable gallery of sympathet'c, faithful and
sorich.ly drawings of old fashioned Narragansett
lilo The ouaintness aud rdstic favor are fully
preserved The queer types of haf-dcveloped men
and women are wonderfully lifelike. Careful OBJ
servaion and rare gift of pprtralture are needed
for snch work as this, and also such familiarity
with the people described "a goes fai
beyond mere external knowledg,. Mis-
Carpenters south county folks all talk
In dialect, bat they are real aud Sold
that the oddities of their speech Ouy strike us n
proper belongings, and do not IA with some
writers furnish the distincEiveness OF the elaTac-
ters There are eleven sketches, studies OF stories
an ihIs little book, and every one Is well dooe. An
Afternoon at Neighhor Northups." From Hour I"
Hour in the Country Store, Evening Meeting al
Uncle Sias's' and Watching with the Sick, are
especially good. There is a singular funess o!
knowledge and depth OF perception and apprecla-
ton IN thcss papers. They exhibit the springs o.
community life. Th, trials and sorrow, of the
Moor villagers are set forth with a delicate unob-
truslve simplicity which makes the studies often
very pathetic In the Evening Meeting at Uncle
Sass" We see the muitiforn manifestations OF re-
ligiOus emotion among an unsopbiS t'tiad people
Not little of it is groe,que and get II does MOI
provoke laughter because The frank sincerity of TIE
worshlppers is 80 obvious In Watching with the
Sex q too common do nestle tragedy Is nnfoldeI
with fine art. The story, told by herself IN her
~ 60. la ~
I've with her husbands mother. and her tina
break down under the naqging and fault-hndlng 81
the elder woman and the unsympathe lie attitude
Of her husband i, not the less touching because II
Is COMMONPLACE, and the reader is sure 70 be re-
joced when a loud knock at the outer door her
aids the coming of Jim, the mar who had seemed
20 think more of bis mother than his wife. bul
when the latter left him in despair suddenly dis
covered that nc could not live ithoui her. But
tudeed there is not OF these papers which doe
moi deserve praise and which Is not refreshing
evidence If loving, CONSCIENTIOUS work. As TO the
final one L. c." the deli htful sketch of the pre-
cocious old fashioned little girl it is - Thoroughly
real and so quaint thai only suppose 1t to
be a genuine photograph. We hope Miss Carpenter
will write of these south comfy studies. for
they are of the good things TOO much of which IT Is
impossible to have.
Octave rhanets collection OF stories covers wide
range not only of subjects bat OF regions. The
scene. are east among the French Canadians, as in
THE Ogre OF Ha Ha Bay; IN Florida. as in The
Bishops Vagabond"; at Chicago. AZ III " Father
Quennaion's Convert: among the Tennessee
mountains as in "Whltsun Harp, Regulator
Some are ciaect studies aud some are not while he
merits of the papers quite unequal The most
finished aud in several respects he best is Whit
sun Harp, Regulation Here there is a strong re-
hinder of f ebert Cra1docks novels but nothing to
suggest imitation 1t is instead the generic likeness
10 be expected in two scientific analyses of the
same fauna or flora. We note the minglIng OF re-
pulsvely bare and unlovey ways of lie
with strain of sub-cOnsci0us melancholy